{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,12]],"date-time":"2026-09-12T18:09:53Z","timestamp":1789236593243,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]],"date-time":"2022-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1664409600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004329","name":"University Medical Centre Ljubljana\u2019s intern tertiary grant","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["V3-2104"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["V3-2104"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004329","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle\u2014as captured by the Medlife Index Questionnaire (i.e., encompassing a Mediterranean diet as well as other aspects of healthy living, such as food preparation, physical activity, and socializing)\u2014has been associated with reduced cardiovascular events in healthy individuals. In the present study, we sought to determine the adherence to, and the effect of comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation on, Mediterranean lifestyle adherence in patients after myocardial infarction. We included 121 patients (mean age, 55 years; women, 37%) undergoing comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation\u2014i.e., exercise training 3 times per week for 12 weeks plus dedicated workshops promoting the Mediterranean lifestyle. Before and after cardiac rehabilitation, patients completed the Medlife Index Questionnaire. High baseline adherence was associated with favourable glucose (5.39 vs. 6.1 mmol\/L; p &lt; 0.001), triglycerides (1.1 vs. 1.5 mmol\/L; p = 0.002), and HDL cholesterol levels (1.32 vs. 1.12 mmol\/L; p = 0.032). More importantly, the Medlife Score significantly improved following comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation in patients with low baseline adherence (from 13.8 to 16.7 points; p &lt; 0.001), but not in patients with high baseline adherence (from 19.4 to 18.8 points; p = 0.205). Our findings suggested that Mediterranean lifestyle promotion during cardiac rehabilitation improved adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle, especially in low-adherence patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14194048","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]],"date-time":"2022-09-29T23:09:29Z","timestamp":1664492969000},"page":"4048","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Effects of Cardiac Rehabilitation and Diet Counselling on Adherence to the Mediterranean Lifestyle in Patients after Myocardial Infarction"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Marko","family":"Novakovi\u0107","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zalo\u0161ka 7\/VI, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0691-2580","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Uro\u0161","family":"Rajkovi\u010d","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Maribor, Kidri\u010deva cesta 55a, 4000 Kranj, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Ko\u0161uta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zalo\u0161ka 7\/VI, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jure","family":"Tr\u0161an","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zalo\u0161ka 7\/VI, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0442-6175","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zlatko","family":"Fras","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zalo\u0161ka 7\/VI, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6015-2127","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Borut","family":"Jug","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Vascular Diseases, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zalo\u0161ka 7\/VI, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"},{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"197","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(16)30677-8","article-title":"Acute Myocardial Infarction","volume":"389","author":"Reed","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3227","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehab484","article-title":"2021 ESC Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice","volume":"42","author":"Visseren","year":"2021","journal-title":"Eur. 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